Fish and Djokovic advance at Sony tourney

Associated Press

KEY BISCAYNE, FLA.

Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to 24 consecutive matches by beating Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Seeded second, Djokovic erased all five break points he faced. His opponent Friday will be American Mardy Fish, who beat No. 6-seeded David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2.

As Djokovic closed in on his latest win, he unveiled his version of the Petko Dance — a celebratory jig introduced by Andrea Petkovic, who plays Maria Sharapova in the semifinals today. Petkovic and Djokovic were both born in Serbia.

Fish claimed the top U.S. spot for the first time by reaching the semifinals when he beat No. 6 seed David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2.

The 29-year-old Fish will climb to at least 11th, a career best, in the next world rankings.

Andy Roddick, a friend since childhood, will fall from eighth to 14th after losing his opening match last week.

“I don’t think I would ever feel like I was the No. 1 American,” Fish said. “Andy has had a pretty good career. You can put his career on top of mine about six times. He’s always going to be the top dog in my generation.”

Victoria Azarenka advanced to her first semifinal this year by beating two-time champion Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-3. Clijsters, nursing a right shoulder injury since she won the Australian Open in January, had eight double-faults and held only three times in nine service games.

“I just didn’t feel good out there,” Clijsters said. “I didn’t have any fighting spirit. Against some lower-ranked players maybe it’s possible to get through matches, but against somebody like her, it’s not.”

Azarenka’s opponent tonight will be No. 3 Vera Zvonareva, who beat No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-3.

Fish was braced for an endurance test against Ferrer, a dogged baseliner, but the Spaniard had back-to-back double-faults to lose serve and fall behind 6-5 in the first set, and Fish pulled away from there.